Travel to Asia: Travel the Amazing Thailand

Looking for the perfect vacation?

Thailand is great...it has pushed towards urbanization in a relatively higher rate than its Asian neighbors, and yet it has maintained its rich culture and heritage. It is also living in an urban shell of being environmentally conscious.

Though traffic in Bangkok is unbearable at some point, the rapid mass transit will get you places in no time. Among the many countries I have been, I was mesmerized more by the greatness of Thailand. See more of my shots below. You can also click here to know HOW TO TRAVEL AROUND BANGKOK. Enjoy your trip!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Free cellphone calls using my site?

This is so cool!

A friend of mine based in California owns a website where she sells her goodies from her travels. It's a startup online shopping cart for her and she finds it easy getting orders through her cellphone. Her clients can call her using her sites...without even revealing it online!

I asked her that might be too inconvenient especially if she does not want anyone bothering her...I myself don't want anyone calling me in the most ungodly hours of my day.

Apparently you can edit preferences from the options and you can even block unwanted calls and set your widget to receive calls only during your preferred time.

The best part is that, it is absolutely FREE! There is just one downside though..it can't be used worldwide as it currently serves North America areas...but can be used on US based Skype number...

I tried getting my own widget and I got my own html script through my email. If you want one in your blog/site, you can sign up at www.JingleMe.com at no obligations to you!

I tried it on Myspace, Friendster, Hi5, facebook...and it works! You can even use it on Ebay and Craiglist....

This is the coolest thing for webtrepreneurs like me...

Paypal, Siam International Bank, and BDO Link Up

I had trouble paying my writers online since I had no one take care of paying my credit card bills in the Philippines. Quite a bummer for I never though about that one essential thing before leaving my home for Thailand.

And so the next most convenient option was to pay through Western Union. Though writers might care less about how payment is sent, choosing mode of payment might be more crucial on my part. I have to worry about extra fees and other charges...so I need to choose the cheapest option.

Experience tells me that Paypal is still cheaper than Western Union. I was billed Baht340++ for sending US$30, another Baht340++ for US$50, and Baht300 for US$10. I remember being billed for approximately Baht1800++ for sending AUS$1100. So I wouldn't really know what is the benchmark for Western Union Fees. A wild guess is that fees might be dependent on location and currency.

My "ED" Visa status in Thailand prevents me from opening a bank account in another bank. I only have Siam International Bank as my legitimate Thai bank account since it is a privilege granted by studying at my insitution. Unfortunately, I cannot tie up Siam International Bank with Paypal, since it is not recognized by the latter.

Unless Paypal and Siam International Bank could link up sooner, I am hoping my writers from home could open BDO account too..for that is probably the cheapest way I can route payments from Thailand.

at the brink of....plagiarism

Plagiarism is a grave offense...

...I almost lost what has been worked hard for the past few months...

things piled up so fast and so soon the in the previous 3 months or so...and maybe time pressure might have compelled me to be more lax about taking control...failed to be more stringent in quality control...

it was indeed human error...and I admit my head had to spin a minute or two thinking what will happen to my writing stint in the next few months or so. The mishap happened at the same time when I couldn't write as much due to the midterm examinations. So when it rains, it pours.

Call me lucky...things got back in shape in no time..but no excuse to be lax again...I cannot afford to lose it once again.

In the world of virtual publication...you never know who you bump into...and since SEO is a serious business in the world of the big G...i cannot be any more complacent...no room for error this time. Quality over quantity...

Life Goes on in Thailand

Sawasdee Ka.

It seems like ages...I left the Philippines a week ago half-hearted about coming to Thailand for school. I was then about to be 15 days late from the first day of classes. I will be pen pushing in the next 2 years to complete my masters degree in Urban Environmental Management, and only God knows how much I miss home.

Things are still hazy the day I left. If I had been dying to leave in the past year, I am so hesitant this year for so many reasons. Among them is quite economic....I have been making substantial money online in the past months, more than enough to pay my bills, and I am so worried I will not be able to do it while away.

One of my fears just happened. I had to drop one client since my internet was so uncertain in the first 4 days from the day I arrived in Thailand. All students will have a login and password to the network, and since my documents were partially processed, I had to wait until yesterday when I finally had my username and password to get online.

True enough, online commerce proves so much benefits to me, even while I will be schooling. In fact, I am now writing again for my clients, although at a slower pace due to my poorly running laptop. My internet is stable, although I do not know yet if there would be any policies that would prevent me from getting online for this purpose. I will probably avail of the subsidized laptop for students by coming Tuesday so I can work faster than how I am right now.

Next check was my funds from online...I was troubled with my online payments, as I had a local bank in the Philippines, courtesy of BDO. It's a savings account with ATM (debit card) which is Mastercard affiliate. Luckily, when I tried in one of the ATMs in Future Park, Pathumthani, Thailand, my BDO card was able to inquire balance! That's a good thing since not all ATMs in Thailand will read Philippine bank card even if it has the Mastercard Logo. I'd probably look for a machine that can read my card that is just inside the campus.

My only mistake is not being able to request for an international Visa credit card from Metrobank. I tried to swipe it in the grocery and the cashier said 'THAI...(pointing to the card)'...she barely meant I need to swipe a credit card that's readable in Thailand POS.

But then again, life goes on in Thailand...My BDO still tied up with Paypal...and I could still get my payments online through BDO all the way from Philippines and withdraw the funds here in Thailand still through my BDO Savings account ATM/debit card by Mastercard.

Did I open a Thai Bank? Yes, SIAM International Bank has a Mastercard Debit card for ATM accounts, but Paypal does not recognize it when I attempted to register to my Paypal account... But, I would certainly appreciate if there is any Thai who can help me...and allow me to say in advance, 'Ka Phun Ka'.

Status Classes meet in the Middle

I too was once a college student away from home...and it might be a prevalent issue in almost all colleges in the Philippines...the struggle among the social classes in the campus.

UP Diliman is no exception. Despite the COñOtation..este...connotation that UP is a school for the masses...for the ISKOLar ng BAYAN, the so-called 'elite' still wander around the vast greens and walk the hallways of AS, ENG, B.A., MASSCOM, or Wherever they want.

In the years that I spent my life in UP, social classes are apparent...distinguishing the 'masses' and 'normal' citizens from the COñO's. I'd say NORMAL because COñO's are not the majority of the mix out there in UP Diliman. UP Lifestyle is not so 'fit' for the COñO's and many college freshmen who belong to the society's upper class might deem it a major factor not to study in UP because it is an open university where all 'BREEDS' of people can come in, the classroms are not fully airconditioned, and we take IKOT jeepneys and eat Fishballs and banana que.

During my time, you can easily spot coños with these stereotypes (as we have joked about it):

• MEN: in striped shirts, with neat hands;
• WOMEN: also in striped shirts, baby TEEs, and also with neat manicured hands;
• MEN & WOMEN: yosi at the AS steps (I wonder how they can stand sitting on the stairways for so long) or making tambay at the GREENHOUSE or at AS Walk, they do not walk at BetaWay or Ride the IKOT...they have wheels BROOM broom!

As I was one of the PromDi's (Probinsyanang Bisaya) I just lived each day passing by these coño people at their Tambayans...as I get to talk to one of them, they are but normal human beings...though I can easily sense the COPYcat coños from the true and natural coños who are just the way they are and do not mean any harm to any of their fellows.

It is a bit nostalgic as I read through my wonderful younger then housemate Dian, I consider my sister, and can't help but laugh about it.

Here is her email entry (which I believe could have reached thousands of coños out there):

"THE TEN CONYO-MANDMENTS"
1. Thou shall make gamit "make + pandiwa". ex. "Let's make pasok na to our class!" "Wait lang! I'm making kain pa!" "Come on na, we can't make hintay anymore! It's in Andrew pa, you know?" 2. Thou shall make kalat "noh", "diba" and "eh" in your pangungusap. ex. "I don't like to make lakad in the baha nga, no? Eh diba it's like, so eew, diba?" "What ba: stop nga being maarte noh?" "Eh as if you want naman also, diba?" 3. When making describe a whatever, always say "It's SO + pang-uri". ex. "It's so malaki, you know, and so mainit!" "I know right? So sarap nga, eh!" "You're making me inggit naman.. I'll make bili nga my own burger." 4. When you are lalaki, make parang punctuation "dude" or "pare" ex. "Dude, ENGANAL is so hirap." "I know, pare, I got bagsak nga in quiz one, eh" 5. Thou shall know.... you know? & I know, right! ex. "My bag is so bigat today, you know!" "I know, right! We have to make dala pa kasi the jumbo Physics book eh!" 6. Make gawa the plural of pangngalans like in English or Spanish. ex. "I have so many tigyawats, oh!" 7. Like, when you can make kaya, always use like. Like, I know right? ex. "Like, it's so init naman!" "Yah! The aircon, it's, like sira!" 8. Make yourself feel so galing by translating the last word of your sentence, you know, your pangungusap? ex. "Kakainis naman in the LRT! How plenty tao, you know, people?" "It's so tight nga there, eh, you know, masikip?" 9. Make gamit of plenty abbreviations, you know, daglat?" ex. "Like, OMG! It's like traffic sa LRT" "I know right? It's so kaka!" "Kaka?" "Kakaasar!" 10. Make gamit the pinakamaarte voice and pronunciation you have para full effect! ex. "I'm, like, making aral at the Arrhneo!" "Me naman, I'm from Lazzahl! Conyomandment 11. Forward this email to all your conyo friends :D or cge na like to ervyone nalang! :D Thanks to Iggy for the post! Batu-bato sa langit, tamaan wag magalit! ('Cause I know a lot of conyo peeps hahaha!) Besides...it helps to laugh once in a while, debah? :D

To this note, I'd say, "Mabuhay ang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas" (Long LIve University of the Philippines!)...Congratulations to the 100 years of molding students to be great citizens of the Philippines (I hope so...pressure!).

How to withdraw Paypal to BDO savings account.

DISCLAIMER:
This is a personal blog, so I cannot speak for other users’ personal experiences, nor do I speak for BDO or Paypal. I only wrote about what I went through doing the transactions myself.

I am about to make my 6th withdrawal from my Paypal account to my BDO peso savings account.

I get most of my jobs from The On Demand Global Workforce - oDesk. oDesk has multiple options for payment: Moneybookers, credit card, bank to bank, and Paypal.

I picked Paypal for two reasons: it appears to charge the least and remains to be the most popular mode of payment (which to me is the most reliable in that light). I get to withdraw my accounts from oDesk to Paypal and get charged $1 per withdrawal. I then transfer the funds from Paypal to my BDO account and get charged another $1 in the process.

Take note that paypal charges $1 for any withdrawals below Php7,000.00, which is FREE for any withdrawals over this. Paypal has withdrawal limits of USD500 for free accounts. I used 010530667 as the Bank Code for BDO Universal Bank. Although, you need to know too that BDO does not officially hold tie up with Paypal as shown here.

Before withdrawal, your account confirmation should show you this:

True enough, funds from Paypal reach my BDO approximately 5 calendar days from transaction, as shown in this stamp:

Notice that there is Ph200.00 charged to my account. This is apparently charged by the local recipient, which is BDO, but BDO will not disclose this information.

But to answer your question, yes BDO is capable of receiving Paypal accounts and the great thing I like about BDO is its capability of online transactions.

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Google Reader now launches multiple social functions

How exciting can sharing get?

You can now do multiple things in one interface with Google Reader. It is a powerful tool you could use to add friends, bookmark, RSS sharing and feeds, comments on blogs and recommendation.

I might be new to this too but I think it will cut down your time hopping from one social and bookmarking site to another by reading it in one place. Check out how you can start with Google Reader here.

I will miss the P.I.

I look around everywhere, and it seems that my world has totally changed in a short span of time. Things can easily transform from one state to another with the advent of technology these days...and so can your life. Mine is not an exception.

It has been 2 years ago when I decided to leave the corporate world and do my 'own thing' back home. I guess there was just too much around the corner that I had to leave the room and check out what's going on at the other side of the wall.

I had high hopes...high dreams...and hopped from one key position to another...until I decided, this time, let me do my real 'own thing'.

Opportunity came by and I was engaged in this business which was whirling around my head for quite a number of months. I did not have enough capital...but was lucky to have a great backup from my avid fan...my unfailing father.

And there he stood by...checked and balanced my way. But as newbie as I can be in running my own, and as I cannot control the kirks with such limits in my own battlefield, I had to shut it down to curb the bleeding.

The world seemed to be sipped into one small drain in one SLURP and another BURP! Did it bother me? A bit maybe...though a lot more from others as they watched something I built collapse into thin air. If it was hard work building up something, you cannot imagine how it is tearing it down.

Resources here and there...they're just everywhere...all you need is find...trigger some imagination...and have the courage to approach, speak, and realize what needs to be.

I found a fall back... something I could have started a long time ago. It has paid me so well so far, I can really tell it is the most lucrative I have ever done in my entire existence...and relatively easy.

Kinda tiring...but it feeds me well...and even burdens my other major obligations. If I had known about this, things could have never been how they were....But if so, I might never have decided to leave too.

I might be saying goodbye to P.I. soon enough...and probably be around a foreign land...in the hopes to see some familiar faces...and meet new ones.

Life might not be THAT friendly in a foreign land, but I think this is it. It's the calling I have been playing deaf and dumb about...and it's about time to hear the call.

How to Win Clients and Keep Them

I have been writing so much HOW-TOs stuff....

I remember extracting information from marketing email blurbs to create HOW-to-CATCH-your-rate-A-Woman articles for a Men's magazine. I might not have satisfied the client very much for the project just ended in a snap, but boy oh boy, I remember how tedious the work went. Spent hours with those emails and felt exhausted each time. Something I might not be very good at, but still I think it was worth trying.

To win clients and keep them, you need to remember our own set of golden rules:

1. Do unto others what you want others to do unto you - you do not want to be waiting for so long for something that will not come...so when you say something, do it. Meet deadlines and expectations.
2. If you are in doubt, ask questions - asking saves a lot of guesswork. I got in a big trouble with one client because I assumed to much and asked too little questions.
   
3. NEVER Assume! - Refer to rule # 2.
4. Be honest - integrity can give you peace of mind..and can even win you referrals.
   
5. Money is not everything - Everything about business is built on relationships. Maintain good ones, and you are bound to win clients and keep them.

So I guess, I have learned these things after having done loads of work from clients from all over the world...I think there's a great pool of experiences and things to learn for me. In the mean time, I sit at my chair and do my assignments.

So, you know something I do not on how to win clients and keep them? Hit me back!

Earn Dollars From Home

Life has never been $weeter!

Have you been broke and never want to be broke ever again? Are you tired of working 8 hours a day and earning peanuts? Have you recently shut down a business and would want to earn as much money like you used to?

To tell you honesty, I have been in almost all of those situations and one important thing happened to me... I was DESPERATE FOR MONEY!!!

As I was on the verge of looking for opportunities online, I happened to stop at some interesting websites, until I reached the most fascinating one ever! It made me an instant On Demand Global Workforce with the great opportunity to earn dollars from home! Yes, you heard me...not any place far at all...earning dollars within the comforts of my own home.

Yes, life can be harsh sometimes. What matters most in the end is about being positive and not to be afraid to try new things...for you never know how much fabulous things can happen to you if you do so!

In less than 1 week I earned my first paycheck of $20 for writing for website content. Next came another which earned me another $10...and the endless breaks went on and on. And guess what? In less than 30 calendar days to be exact, I just realized I already earned a grand total of $1200 (Php50,000.00++) just by sitting at home! I am not too old nor too young but I guess I just realized it is indeed possible to earn dollars from home.

It is very interesting to note that that I got to discover so much by surfing more and more. I bumped into this site which made me earn a few dollars too just by Buy Reviews. Another one will give you some cash if anyone downloads any of the pictures that you post at their site.

Who says you never earn money if you just sit down?

Too good to be true? Fuss no more, because I just did earn dollars from home! And thanks to the new age commerce of internet revolution for I can be financially free again!

IMPROVE YOUR LIFE NOW!

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Discover "The Secret" To Creating The Fulfilling Life You Desire Click Here!

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Online payday loan help

Need cash? Do you want to apply for online loan?

Then Easy Online Payday Loan is the answer for your needs. In fact, application is so easy and painless. All you need to do is to fill out an online loan application form and they will take care of your needs by finding a lender who will be willing to issue you quick cash loans.

As soon as you have filled out the necessary information, Easy Online Payday Loan will submit your pertinent details to the lender. Some lenders might ask you to fax in some necessary documents to verify the accuracy of the information you have given.

So how will you know if you are qualified for online quick cash loans?

Most lenders require you to have a stable job or an income from welfare or social security. You must be 18 years old and above to qualify for online loan and need to be a resident of the United States. You also need to have an active savings or checking account with a direct deposit set up. Since terms and conditions of various lenders vary, you might be asked for other requirements aside form the basic ones.

What are you waiting for? Simply click on this link and go to Easy Online Payday Loan, your online partner in getting quick cash loans today!

How to live longer?

Adapted from "New Ways to Live Longer" by P.Curtis. Reader's Digest

LOW-TECH WAYS TO LIVE LONGER:
To live a longer, healthier life, you need to learn how to eat a lot less. Count your calorie intake and cut on eating too much. Eating just the right amount will even slow down the aging process.

You need to establish social support to live a longer life. You can do so by making friends, getting married, or having your own dog. Did you know that marriage can add 7 strong years to a man's life and 3 for a woman's? If you have a pet, chances are, your stress and blood pressure can get lower.

Regular exercise can also help you live longer. A minimum of 30 minutes of exercise will help you gain great health benefits.

Take occasional sips of Red wine for you to live longer. It contains Resveratrol, which has anti-aging effects.

as opposed to HIIGH-TECH WAYS TO LIVE LONGER:
Replacement of body parts (self-explanatory);
Nano-healing (inserting tiny devices inside the body to fix and remove blood clots and damaged/precancerous cells)
Better DNA by lengthening our telomeres in our chromosomes. When telomeres shorten, the cell dies.

Long live new age humans!

Come join me in this Travian World...

I am one of the Gauls...

My village is new in this travian world.

I only have a few resources...and my people are working very ard...
this is my world...my travian world....



Coz most of the time, I do my work hand in hand with pleasure...

but I need friends in my world.I will see you in SERVER 1..if you join me!!!

at www.travian.com

see you in Travian

Amazing work of art! these are wonder murals

I was trying to search for information on artists who can do excellent mural for my store, and look what I found from the internet:







These are not only amazing!!! It makes me think of visiting the place!

to loot for men

A Globe Handyphone area manager in Davao City visits someone else's significant other...

Apparently she has a fetish with MEN in Uniform...not just of ordinary Uniform...but with ones who get to touch the molecules up to 1,000 feet above sea level. And so they're called Heavy Equipment Operators for equipment that Hover up there.

and so she hangs out almost daily at the barracks of these men in uniform..and probably gets the "fringe benefits" she's looking for. How often? that...we don't know.

This day and age, women can do almost everything they please. As her true intention is not really clear for now...May it be a business strategy to close more sales...or a personal tactic to get the target shot.

Are women these days this aggressive to loot for objects of their desire? MEN, not in exemption. Though SUCCESS can be brilliant...but more often than not, it can never buy love.

They say the Philippines has a whopping population ratio of 5 females for every 1 male...and enough statistics can explain infidelity in this country these days.

Can women be more desperate with this numbers? Could such statistics also make a personnel of middle management act so low?

I wouldn't really know...unless I'd get to hear from this area manager in Davao City.

...How true is this? British are so much smarter than Americans???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_mkwB9ayK4

:blush:

Have you heard that Americans are stupid?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rwh0ltewL8

humbling moments

"when it rains, all birds fly for shelter...but the eagle alone avoids the rain by flying above the clouds..."


It was indeed a tiring start for this year...
for almost a year now, I cannot recall a very decent vacation i have had...

it must be very tiring to most...seeing me maneuver life this way...and i never knew it was, until people around me told me in my face...that time it is TOO early for me to strive as much...no kids to feed...zero dependents...

STRESS can be fatal...
if you let it get into your nerves...

to count, i have been admitted in the hospital twice in the past 3 months...

Shrinks say, STRESS. and so i need to REST...coz each and everyday, time flies like a whim...speed i cannot keep up with if I had been the spectator...which to me seems to be the most normal pace to be in...

When will i ever get to smell the flowers...when all else seem to be endless remorse and troubles to resolve...

Sometimes, when you make some decisions in life...there couldn't be any TURNING back...

and so it is essential to use your WITS and strike like there is definitely NO TURNING BACK.

"Sleeps With Butterflies" Tori Amos

(c/o MINDA)

Airplanes

Take you away again

Are you flying

Above where we live

Then I look up a glare in my eyes

Are you having regrets about last night

I'm not but I like rivers that rush in

So then I dove in

Is there trouble ahead

For you the acrobat

I won't push you unless you have a net

You say the word

You know I will find you

Or if you need some time

I don't mind

I don't hold on

To the tail of your kite

I'm not like the girls that you've known

But I believe I'm worth coming home to

Kiss away night

This girl only sleeps with butterflies

With butterflies

So go on and fly then boy

Balloons

Look good from on the ground

I fear with pins and needles around

We may fall then stumble

Upon a carousel

It could take us anywhere

I'm not like the girls that you've known

But I believe I'm worth coming home to

Kiss away night

This girl only sleeps with butterflies

With butterflies

With butterflies

So go on and fly boy

Unselfishly selfish

being selfish sometimes creates ripples around your comfort zone...
...and it is more apt if i'd say, you unconsciously create ripple around your sphere when you do things you intended to do good for your own consumption...

I quit the corporate world to make something out of myself at my own pace and bearing...selfish thing to do for quite selfish needs of a tiny me...

despite being so, my intention at the beginning was not very grand...but rather selfish in nature intended to alleviate my status and life and my family...

...in the process i learned that small and selfish intention paved way to me being able to help others...being able to employ people from all walks of life...might have been different faces in the past...but quite the same kinds...ordinary but extra-talented people who also at the same time had the same selfish intention that i had...to eke out a living by getting employed...and little did they know that they created ripples around them that made great impact on my little "selfish endeavor" which in the long run created bigger ripples in the "selfish endeavors" of other industries...advertising agencies, security and manpower agencies, small enterprises, retailers, wholesalers, lessor, sales personnels, etc etc...

...quite small at the start...

but quite amazing how small and minute intentions can create big things in life...

i might have not been aware of it from the very beginning...

...but i hope that by doing such "selfish endeavors", indeed i'd get to continue to create bigger things in the long run....

IMPROVE YOUR LIFE NOW!

The Self-Confidence Formula For Success Click Here!

Universal Life Secrets. Transform your life and create your desired reality with Universal Life Secrets. Click Here!

Discover "The Secret" To Creating The Fulfilling Life You Desire Click Here!

It's Your Web Presence That Counts The Most

PLACE YOUR ADS HERE!

Contact: info(at)dscribes.com

feeling the heat...inside out

I am freshly baked from the heat of Metro Manila...
...2 years to be exact from the day i left the tidying streets of Manila, i visit the Capital once again and find myself in awe seeing the gutters and sidewalks of EDSA so spic and span.

Makes me think, BF is about to become successful in his mission to make Metro Manila the bigger result of Marikina's cleanup mechanism...harsh but effective....deliberately effective...

Most of the time, effective leaders gain not so much friends but enemies...the harsh struggle BF had when he was starting cleaning up the streets of Manila....criticisms from people who wanted to hold their reins...from people who wanted to earn a living by selling on the streets which happen to be illegal at the sake of non-conforming to city ordinances and making Manila's streets unsafe and ugly...

I see otherwise in CEbu....the phenomenon is bothersome...to me who has seen Cebu City in its cleanest contemporary years...97 98 99...and i might have not seen the rest of it...times when Cebu City was so clean....It was during these years when I not only stood proud but literally spread the word that Cebu is a pleasant place to stay...no traffic jams...clean and amiable streetscapes....little if no garbage scattered on the streets...sad but had to 8-10 years forward, and Cebu becomes relatively a Big Big mess...

January 2006 ...and I remember so vividly riding home seeing so many plastics and debris on the streets of gen maxilom ave (then called mango)...streetkids at every point of intersection...and I pondered...what happened to my hometown? what used to be a beautiful city is slowly becoming an ugly urban decay...

I begin to think...and started to rationalize that it could be that people in the reins might be too scared to do things the BF way...gaining enemies by implementing the hard rules...rules that make people shy away from violating even the simplest ordinance for the simple reason that every violation comes with a corresponding penalty...with consistency on implementation regardless of your last name, affinity, or whether or not you can cast a vote to make him win in the next election...

BF has done it...and gained more enemies than friends...

i personally say, his rules are hard and fast....but when i got to see Metro Manila now, clean and becoming greener than it ever was...I can't help but smile from ear to ear...that indeed, hope for the Philippines lies in the hands of people who stand firm to achieve results for the greater good despite the odds of the games of politics...despite the banter...despite the mocking...

I haven't really seen the other side of the coin...but my opinion still stands based on the results I just so...Ugly Metro Manila transformed into a pleasant landscape.

...My hope is for CEbu to find leaders like BF.... straightforward despite the odds...simply sensible...effective leaders who understand the basic essence of human existence...as everything else falls into place for a well kept environment.

...Meanwhile, I worry about the business permit I applied for last August 2007 which never really moved from the tables of Cebu City hall officers and inspectors...some say, there is a phenomenon going on called "lack of GREASE"...

I keep holding on to the idealism of non-tolerance to corruption...and of course, expect that my papers would never move in the end...unless I cease to rage war against the many enemies of the non-corrupt citizens....then maybe I'd see results...

...but then again, THAT is another hell of a story...

01 . 01 . 08

time flies...

...things change....constantly...

exactly 18 hours after 00:00 with a very very early new year's greeting, i happen to tune in to the early night news on TV...

...freakishly scary news is what they like flashing at dinner time on tv...need i say which channel? though i don't have any preference between the warring networks, both typically show what's gory...the killings at the streets that happen on new year's day, exploding extremities, eyes, and other body parts due to fireworks, riots, and fire at the slums...things change fast and steady, but on this light, i don't think a lot has changed since the past year...

...i suppose media can create an image before our eyes...not exactly what's happening around the world but it seems what it's becoming before us... ironic it is, but they flashed happy sights and scenes from all over the world...the happy people at TimeS Square NY, wonderful fireworks at Taipei 101 in Taiwan, Eiffel Tower's magnificent lights in Paris...but hopelessness, desperation, and state of poverty in the PI...

...aghast and perplexed, i get to wonder....isn't there anything wonderful to say about our country? coz media spends so much time and trouble picking up unpleasant stuff there is on our streets....when the best story to tell would be things to look forward to in 2008...hope, opportunities, among many other positive things we can think of that's more uplifting
than bloody wastes and accidents...downers that kill the not-so-many hopeful spirits.

...who knows how many in the media long to definitely paint a different picture for the Filipinos...and never put those whopping sponsorships and paid advertisements into waste for things so freakish and gory...a picture so wonderful and inspiring...that we Filipinos would soon tend to forget that we are a struggling race and find light that as long as we keep kicking and see things in the positive light, then there is indeed hope...and maybe there is indeed in 2008...